At the end of October, at the Mustard Tree, we completed the last of our Encounter Weekends for this year. Psalm 34:5 (Those who look to him are radiant, their faces are never covered with shame) was the theme for the weekend. We gathered to seek our Father afresh and allow the Holy Spirit to ignite a deeper connection with Father’s heart. We
wanted to make the time to gaze on him and experience his gaze on us. We were not disappointed!
Breakthrough
Simply to say that Father met with us, is rather like saying, “We stood under a waterfall and got a bit wet!” What’s it like to bring ourselves into the torrent of grace and love that flows from his heart?
–xxxthere was rejoicing for those who were freed from consuming fears
–xxxthere were those who reconnected in their relationship with God
–xxxand Father’s special, for some who for the first time in their years of walking with Jesus, were able to experience Father’s embrace and call him “Father”
–xxxan amazing answer to one person’s practical and deeply felt needs, through someone they’d not met before, yet who came (unknowingly) equipped with the detailed and exactly right answer: that can only be Father God!
–xxxthere was soaking in his enveloping peace and enjoying his favour to us and warmth of his gaze
–xxxa lady came, suffering from acute pain – a consequence of 30 years of scoliosis (curvature of her spine). She was permanently on Tramadol, a narcotic like pain reliever. She had tried every remedy, with no cure. The Holy Spirit revealed that she was bound in her affliction by an evil spirit, like the lady in Lk13:10. The word of deliverance was spoken over her and she was set free from 30 years of pain and disease. She was up and bending over to touch her toes and tying her shoe laces, all for the first time in over 20 years!
Hallelujah! Our Father is so good!
Freedom
And we were hugely encouraged, too, to have confirmed that a lady who attended the Nicholaston weekend in September (and this one) was freed from OCD that had meant a repeated compulsive behaviour that was interfering with her daily life and making a chore out of many normal activities during any day, for over 30 years. She needed constantly to check and recheck that everything in her apartment was secure and it was an ordeal every time she went out. When she returned home from the September weekend, it suddenly dawned on her that the Lord had delivered her from this compulsion. At the Mustard tree she testified to how she had enjoyed a month of “normal” behaviour!
“I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears … taste and see that the Lord is good”, said David in Ps34:4,8. So many of the folk from these last two weekends, at Nicholaston and the Mustard Tree, would say a big AMEN! And certainly we would add, “The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy”.
And more ….
Well, it didn’t end there! Shortly after the weekend, we heard from a dear friend. Best let her tell her own story:
I received a healing a week ago that has made my life so much more pleasant! Since the age of 17 I have had trouble with my wisdom teeth. One in particular that apparently could not come through because there was no room. The hospital did not want to try and extract it because it was too high in the jaw. The dentist hoped that it would come down enough to be removed. I have had endless pain and infections over the years, a very bad one recently that was the worst the dentist had ever seen. This was part of my problem over half term. I could not open my mouth to eat. Pain killers had little effect. As I lay in bed last Thursday feeling sorry for myself because I had no one to pray for me at that time, I thought of Conrad and his assertiveness regarding healing. In particular I remember him saying that you need to claim your healing- the healing you are entitled to, so I thought that I would pray for myself and do exactly that. I fell asleep and woke up with a big white glistening wisdom tooth in the right place!
How great is our Father God!
Podcasts of the weekends’ teachings can be downloaded from here.
Breakfast on the Beach Diary 